Surface Features of Mars

General Features Mars is a Desert World. Its surface is dominated by desert terrain dotted with Volcanoes and Craters. There are even fields of sand dunes! Most of the surface appears red from iron oxide (rust). The rust comes from the iron in its rocks. It is much like the deserts of Four-corners region of the American South West.

The Tharsis Region Along the mid-latitudes of Mars is a bulge dotted with volcanoes. It probably formed as hot material rose to the surface. A giant “hot spot” Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano, 26 km high 700km wide, is young. No craters on it are older that 250 million years

Valles Marineris The Greatest Canyon known is the Valles Marineris 5000 km (3000 miles) long and 10 km (6 miles)deep it would stretch across the US! This giant gash is a rift valley that stopped spreading before it split the Martian Crust

Martian Polar Ice Caps Mars has polar ice caps much like Earth They grow and shrink with the seasons The Northern cap is Water Ice with a thin layer of dry ice The Southern cap has a higher elevation, thus is cooler and composed almost entirely of Dry Ice